THE 

BILTMORE 


0 


NEW  YORK 


• 


Avery  Architectural  and  Fine  Arts  Library 
Gift  of  Seymour  B.  Durst  Old  York  Library 


go* 


BILTMORE 


NEW  YORK 


JOHN  McE.  BOWMAN 
President 


VANDERBILT  &  MADISON  AVENUES 
43R-D  &  44T-»  STREETS 


THE  BILTMORE 


A  LITTLE  JOURNEY  TO  THE 
BILTMORE 


By  ELBERT  HUBBARD 

'VE  BEEN  to  a  hotel.  I  thought  I  had  seen  hotels 
before,  but  now  I  know  I  hadn't.  The  Biltmore 
in  New  York  City,  is  a  hotel  that  is  individual, 
distinct,  peculiar,  unique  and  unforgetable.  The 
Biltmore  tokens  a  new  time. 

The  opening  of  this  hotel  is  an  epoch.  We  are 
living  in  a  new  age,  and  if  you  want  to  realize  this 
just  visit  this  wonderful  hostelry. 

If  you  arrive  from  New  England  or  upon  the 
New  York  Central  lines,  the  ease  with  which  you 
can  go  to  The  Biltmore  will  be  the  first  thing  that 
gives  you  a  thrill  of  delight. 

You  eliminate  cab  drivers,  taxis,  guides,  and  cross  no  streets,  run 
into  no  congestions  of  traffic. 

When  you  alight  from  your  train  at  the  Grand  Central  Station, 
you  hand  your  bag  to  a  Red  Cap  and  say,  "The  Biltmore." 

In  about  half  a  second  you  are  deposited  in  a  luxurious  elevator, 
and  in  half  a  second  more  you  are  in  the  office  of  The  Biltmore. 

If  you  come  to  New  York  by  other  routes  than  those  named,  the 
location  of  The  Biltmore  is  so  central  that  you  are  but  a  few  moments 
from  station  or  ferry. 

The  Biltmore  is  so  arranged  that  there  is  no  congestion  or  crowd- 
ing in  any  of  the  hallways,  elevators,  restaurant,  palm  court,  grill 
rooms,  cafes  or  buffets.  Here  is  revealed  the  genius  of  the  architects, 
Warren  &  Wetmore,  who  have  designed  many  of  the  structural 
wonders  of  New  York,  and  they  have  fairly  surpassed  themselves 
in  The  Biltmore. 

I  was  told  that  there  were  in  the  hotel  when  I  was  there  over 
three  thousand  people,  but  I  ran  into  no  crowd. 


rPHE  main  office 
*  of  The  Biltmore 
is  conveniently  lo- 
cated, and  equipped 
with  every  conven- 
ience to  meet  quick- 
ly each  requirement 
of  the  guest. 


grill  room  and  peace-impelling  lounge  are  all  outside  rooms,  where 
the  light  from  the  out-of-doors  enters,  and  this  is  true  of  every  one 
of  the  thousand  rooms  in  the  house. 

Electricity  has  never  been  used  so  thoroughly  as  it  has  in  this 
building,  so  I  am  told  by  one  of  the  great  engineers  of  the  world. 
We  speak  of  a  building  being  wired  for  electric  lights,  but  here  is 
the  only  building  in  the  world  that  is  completely  wired  for  service. 

There  are  pneumatic  tubes  that  carry  laundry  bundles  and  a 
vacuum  cleaning  service  that  picks  up  the  dust  and  carries  it  out. 

Every  known  device  for  ventilation  has  been  installed  by  which 
dust  is  kept  out  of  the  hotel,  and  a  scientist  of  note  tells  me  that  the 
atmosphere  in  The  Biltmore  would  show  a  far  greater  purity  from 
the  microbes  of  dust  and  bacteria  of  disintegration  than  outside  air, 
even  in  the  country,  unless  it  were  immediately  after  a  great  fall  of 
snow.  Thus  it  really  looks  as  if  when  we  want  to  get  absolutely 
sanitary  conditions  in  future,  we  will  have  to  go  to  the  city  and  not 
to  the  country. 

The  Biltmore  is  the  last  word  in  hotel  creation.  It  is  the  last 
white  milestone  on  the  road  to  progress.  It  contains  every  better- 
ment, every  improvement,  every  device  for  comfort  and  convenience 
that  any  and  all  the  best  hotels  of  America  or  Europe  have,  and  none 
of  their  disadvantages,  and  it  has  so  many  advantages  of  its  own. 

In  the  building  of  The  Biltmore  we  find  the  combined  genius  of 
the  greatest  men  of  the  age  collaborating,  and  the  net  result  is  a  home 
for  the  traveler  that  is  the  safest,  sanest,  most  complete,  convenient 
and  luxurious  institution  ever  thought  out  by  human  brains,  and 
constructed  with  human  hands.  In  its  furnishings  and  decorations 
it  is  pleasing  to  the  most  highly  sensitive  and  cultivated  taste,  for  all 
of  these  things  were  designed  by  the  master  minds  in  such  work, 
Messrs.  W.  &  J.  Sloane,  of  New  York. 

All  of  the  water  used  for  bathing  purposes  is  soft  water,  the  water 
being  nitrated  by  the  Permutit  system,  a  wonderful  device  evolved 
by  German  brains.    By  this  system  all  of  the  mineral  salts  that 


HE  corridors  on 


the  main  floor 
are  beautified  by  rare 
tapestries,  graceful 
palms,  marble  pan- 
eled side  walls  and 
richly  upholstered 
and  handsomely 
carved  furniture. 


may  be  in  the  water  are  removed,  and  nothing  is  added,  so  we  have 
rain  water  just  as  you  would  catch  it  in  the  clouds.  The  Biltmore 
is  the  first  hotel  in  America  to  adopt  this  soft-water  system. 

There  are  twenty-six  stories  in  The  Biltmore  Hotel,  hut  there 
is  really  no  choice  in  the  rooms,  so  far  as  altitude  is  concerned. 
There  are  a  thousand  bedrooms  and  nine  hundred  and  fifty  private 
baths.  No  wall-paper  of  any  sort  is  used.  All  baseboards  are 
marble,  and  the  elevator  shafts  are  solid  stone. 

There  is  a  Louis  XIV  ball  and  banquet  room  on  the  nineteenth 
floor,  seating  six  hundred  people,  surrounded  with  a  royal  suite  of 
reception  and  supper  rooms.  This  ballroom,  with  its  gallery  is  a 
salon  befitting  a  royal  palace.  In  addition  to  this,  there  is  a  smaller 
banquet  and  music  room  on  the  fourth  floor,  which  would  dazzle  the 
eyes  of  any  one  unaccustomed  to  luxurious  establishments.  The 
construction  of  the  exterior  of  the  building  is  such  as  to  permit  on  the 
sixth  floor  a  large  pergola  and  out-of-door  garden,  with  walks,  flower 
beds  and  ornamental  shrubs — an  ideal  spot  for  summer  afternoon 
teas,  amid  floral  surroundings  and  far  above  the  strident  noises  of 
the  city.  This,  like  the  banquet  hall,  is  supplied  with  an  independ- 
ent kitchen — and  speaking  of  kitchens,  please  note  that  every  one 
of  these  indispensable  adjuncts  to  a  hotel  is  above  ground  in  The 
Biltmore,  and  not  placed  in  illy- ventilated  cellars,  as  in  most 
hotels. 

Nerve  irritation  is  reduced  to  the  minimum  at  The  Biltmore.  If 
you  like  music  at  your  meals  you  can  go  to  a  dining-room  where  a 
Polish  professor  produces  sweet  symphonies.  If  you  prefer  to  eat 
in  silence,  you  are  accommodated.  Some  philosopher  has  said  that 
there  is  a  vast  difference  between  eating  dinner  and  dining.  So 
there  is.  You  dine  at  The  Biltmore.  The  china  is  unlike  the  usual 
hotel  ware  and  more  like  that  which  you  find  on  a  private  table  of 
refinement.  The  napery  and  the  Gorham  silverware,  chaste  in 
design  and  pattern,  added  to  the  attention  of  trained  waiters,  all 
tend  to  enhance  your  enjoyment  of  the  food,  which  has  been  pre- 
pared by  chefs  known  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  The  whole 
building  is  a  place  of  rest,  quiet  as  the  country,  beautiful  as  the 
Little  Trianon  at  Versailles.  Turkish  baths,  a  huge  swimming  pool, 
gymnasiums,  music  rooms,  ballrooms,  banquet  rooms,  a  dozen 


'T^HE  large  Res- 
taurant  is  en- 
tered through  the 
stately  Palm  Court 
which  offers  invit- 
ing opportunity  for 
after-dinner  coffee 
and  cigars  and 
social  intercourse. 


private  dining  rooms — here  are  accommodations  that  cater  to  every 
exigency  and  condition  of  life. 

Just  to  show  how  complete  this  place  is,  there  is  a  hospital  with 
an  operating  room,  as  perfect  as  science  and  invention  can  make  it, 
to  take  care  of  emergency  cases.  Doctors  and  nurses  are  here, 
people  of  skill  to  look  after  the  wants  of  the  guests  that  may  need  aid. 

The  average  guest  would  never  know  anything  about  this  hospital. 
You  only  find  it  when  you  require  it  or  search  it  out.  And  then 
there  is  something  more,  because  a  hotel  is  more  than  a  mass  of  stone 
and  concrete  and  a  tangle  of  pipes  and  wires,  and  rooms,  and  dishes, 
and  pictures,  and  statuary;  yes,  there  is  something  else,  that  is  the 
element  of  human  service.  We  have  been  told  that  corporations 
have  no  souls,  but  a  thing  that  hasn't  a  soul  is  dead.  At  The  Bilt- 
more  there  is  a  healthful,  friendly  atmosphere,  a  gentleness,  a  kind- 
ness, a  courtesy  and  a  high  intelligence  that  never  obtrudes,  but 
which  is  always  right  there  when  you  need  it.  And  this  friendliness 
and  devotion  to  human  needs  is  a  quality  that  you  cannot  omit. 
The  Biltmore,  like  paradise,  is  a  condition  of  mind.  Also,  it  is  an 
environment. 

Some  people  may  imagine  that  the  prices  at  The  Biltmore  are  of 
a  kind  that  can  only  be  met  by  royalty.  This  is  a  mistake;  the 
prices — why,  they  are  just  what  you  have  been  paying  elsewhere, 
when  you  flattered  yourself  you  were  putting  up  first  class. 

Any  one  who  does  not  know  The  Biltmore  Hotel  is  lagging  behind 
in  life's  procession.  It  is  a  part  of  the  education  of  every  man  and 
woman  to  know  what  the  big  men  of  the  world  are  doing,  and  what 
civilization  is  supplying.  Only  thus  are  we  able  to  know  in  what 
direction  we  are  traveling  and  how  fast  we  are  moving.  And  so  my 
advice  to  every  citizen  of  America,  or  of  Europe  as  well,  is,  when  you 
are  in  New  York,  do  not  fail  to  see  The  Biltmore  Hotel.  It  is  a  place 
of  safety,  sanity,  sanitation,  health  and  luxury,  where  use  and  beauty 
blend,  and  the  ideal  place  for  temporary  or  permanent  abode.  Here 
courtesy,  kindness,  friendship  and  goodwill  smile  you  a  welcome. 
You  will  be  glad  when  you  arrive  at  The  Biltmore;  you  will  be  sorry 
when  you  have  to  go;  and  you  will  look  forward  with  fond  anticipa- 
tion to  a  return  visit. 


'"PHE  Cascades— 
a  transforma- 
tion of  the  grand 
ballroom  on  the 
nineteenth  floor 
into  a  summer  res- 
taurant of  unique 
and  striking  beauty 
in  which  dinner  is 
followed  by  dancing. 


rT*  H  E  children's 
play -  room,  a 
place  of  unalloyed 
joy  and  innumerable 
fascinating  toys 
which  is  an  ever- 
welcome  resource  on 
rainy  days  or  in  time 
between  outings. 


'"PHE  Louis  XIV 
Ballroom  and 
Banquet  Hall,  with 
its  liberal  propor- 
tions, its  gilded  walls 
and  exquisite  drap- 
eries, forms  a  royal 
setting  for  social 
gatherings. 


T^HE  Music  Room 
on  the  fourth 
floor  is  admirably 
arranged  with  its 
connecting  recep- 
tion and  supper 
rooms  for  private 
functions  and  thes 
dansants. 


THERE  are 

several  private 
dining  rooms  in  The 
Biltmore  suitable  for 
informal  dinners,  or 
dinner  dances.  Each 
has  full  kitchen  and 
serviceconveniences. 


TpOR  the  leisure 
hours — between 
appointments  —  or 
while  waiting  for 
one's  friends — no 
more  delightful  rest- 
ing place  can  be  im- 
agined than  The 
Biltmore  Lounge. 
Here  quiet  and 
comfort  are  happily 
combined. 


rY*  HE  private  suites 
in  The  Biltmore 
are  particularly  well 
adapted  for  those 
who  wish  to  make  in 
the  hotel  their  per- 
manent homes  free 
from  the  burden  of 
housekeeping. 


A tete-a-tete  amid 
the  dainty  sur- 
roundings of  The 
Biltmore  tea-room 
is  indeed  a  pleasure 
unalloyed. 

"Tea  at  The  Bilt- 
more" is  nothing 
less  than  an  institu- 
tion for  the  di  s- 
criminating. 


T^HE  Gentlemen's 
Writing  Room 
is  a  very  business- 
like place  with 
everything  that 
goes  to  make  a  good 
letter  at  hand — and 
it's  a  very  com- 
fortable one  too. 


rRAN-.  PRE  SBRE Y  CO..  NEW  YORK 


